Improvement in car-axle lubricators



UNITED STATES.

PATENT Fran .JAOOB D. GLUTE, OF GOHOES, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO DANIEL MOELWAIN, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-AXLE LUBRICATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.. 180,112, dated July 25, 1876; application filed June '26, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB D. GLUTE, of

Oohoes, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricating Device for Gar-Axle Journals, 850.; and I do hereby declare that the following is, a full, clear,'and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it apperlains' Y deliver it to the journal and it's bearings.

When spiral springs have been employed to support the oiling wheel or roller the arrangement has been complex, at leastfour springs and four supporting-posts being required, as well as a frame to sustain them;. and there is always more or less inequality in the relative pressure of the several springs, besides the liability of their being easily impaired and damaged from various causes, among which may be named the unequal loss of their resilience, due to the constant jarring of the vehicle during travel. I

When fiat springs have been used for this purpose they have generally been applied with one end free, and with the oiling-wheel attached to such free and swinging end, and with the other end either permanently fixed to the housing or axle-box, or else free to shift about loosely in' such box. To this mode of application the objections are, that if the spring be once bent at little -too much downnor properly to lubricate the journal, or perhaps not receive any rotary motion from it; and when such a spring is in its best condition, and in proper position, its free end that sustains the roller is apt to vibrate, especially when the axle rotates rapidly.

Where an oiling-wheel has been so arranged that its axis rests upon an incline, the wheel falling by gravity against the journal, there is a'tendency that the oiling action will be spas-' modic and irregular, inasmuch as the rapid revolution of the journal of the car or other axle is apt to throw the roller up the incline every time it rolls down into sudden contact with it, and hence preventing a continuous and uniform contact of the roller with thejournal, and consequently preventing a continuous spray or shower of the oil.

By my improvement I avoid all these as well as other objections incident to rollerlubricators as heretofore constructed, and attain positive beneficial results, rendering the device, it is believed, practically perfect, while at the same time simple, economical, and at all times reliable.

In the drawings, Figure'l is a vertical section through a housing or box adapted for the reception of the oil, and having my invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the oiling-roller and its sustaining spring-bow support, ready for insertion in the box; and Fig. 3, a plan of the same.

A represents the journal of a car-axle or other axle to be lubricated; B, a box or housing, which may be of anyknown construction;

O, the oiling wheel or roller; D, its shaft; E, a flat plate-spring of bow shape, in the center of which is a longitudinal slot, e, to receive the wheel, the bearings f f for which are screwed,

motion at its ends to allow the required compression by the journal, when the roller or wheel is put to place beneath it, to keep the two in the proper close and continuous contact.

The dotted lines in Fig. 2 indicate approxi' mately the positions of the ends of the bowspring relatively to the ends of the box prior to any compression of the spring. The ends of the spring are preferably curved upward, so that they shall ride easily on the bottom of the box, and never catch or scrape.

It will now be seen that the upward press: ure is equal on both sidesof the center of the spring; that the strain on the spring isalways uniformly distributed on both sides its center; i that the roller cannot shift from the central position assigned it, but that its axis will always-remain in a vertical line withthat-of the axle; that the contact of the peripheries of the roller and of the axle cannot be intermittent or spasmodic, and thatconsequently there will be a continuous shower of oil thrown up and over the axle when the wheel or roller revolves; that the spring and its wheel cannot twist or tort out of proper line with reference to the axial line of the journal; that, as the spring may yield equally on either side of its center, the roller can adapt itself to any irregularity in the periphery of the ax=le-journal,=and to any known form of journal, whethercylindrical, tapering, concave, or convex; that when acar is run backward the true action of the. spring is undisturbed and the wheel performs its duty equally well, with :no change whatever except in the direction-of its revolution; 1 that the spring needs no supporting frame-work connected with it; that the device is free from all complication or liability to get out of order, and isexceedingly simple and economical; that it may be instantly applied or removed, needing no tools or skilled workman; and that it is applicable to the existing,

and, indeed, to most, if not to all, styles of ends of the bow allows all the action required, L

while 'thespring and its roll may be at any time readily lifted up from the bottom of the box for removal or otherwise. I claim-- Asa lubricating device for insertion in the oilbox of a car or other axle, the centrallyslotted bow-shaped plate-spring E, in combination with the wheel 0, mounted in bearin gs at the center orcrest of the spring, the whole being adapted to hold its true position in the box or housing without the need of any fastening or other appliances. l

- JACOB D. CLUTE. Witnesses:

JAMESB. SWEENEY, THOMAS J. WILDRIOK. 

